Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Q Tips


Q Tips is "Open Thread" for any newcomers here. Seriously, does anyone not use Q Tips to clean out the ears? Feel free to post any NPR related comments.
Posted by Mytwords at 7:41 PM
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37 comments:

Porter Melmoth said...

Wow, where DID you get that picture of the crowd in Yemen waiting for Dubya to sign copies of his latest book?!

Wait a minute. Uh-oh, I heard they just found out Dubya's not there. It's Susan Stamberg, and she'd be happy to sign free remainder copies of 'This Is NPR: The First 400 Years'.

No wonder they're mad.

11/16/10, 10:51 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

One person's opinion on NPR, via said book:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RA6CDH2OU6EWD/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=081187253X&nodeID=283155&tag=&linkCode=

NPR should be grateful that there are so many die-hard non-questioners out there.

11/16/10, 11:00 PM
Mytwords said...

Found this little gem this morning:
Remember Robert Siegel's chat with CIA guy Kiriakou that I thought was a dirty ops plant? Well what do you know...mission accomplished.

11/17/10, 6:31 AM
Anonymous said...

http://www.columbia.edu/newcuhome/event/conversation-nprs-robert-siegel-44399.html

MElissa claimed last night that Booby got this in part in recognition of his "intellectual heft".

I wish I could find tapes of Booby when the upraising/occupation came to the Ivy League because i'll bet he was totally "right on" and "groovy" and especially "heavy" at least when no authority figures were within earshot.

A former NPR piece of human capital interviews a current piece of human capital. How sweet it is!

http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1165270052298/JRN_News_C/1212612990217/JRNNewsDetail.htm

Before going to WRVR, he was morning news reporter and telephone talk show host for WGLI Radio in Babylon, New York

I've heard the phrase "whore of Babylon" and often wondered what it meant. I think I know now.

edk

11/17/10, 8:13 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but I got a bug up my a** now (I expect it will pass lol)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_protests_of_1968

The film Starwberry Statement was fictionalized account and this was a part of it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9tMSfC7E38

okay i promise that's all folks!

edk

11/17/10, 8:23 AM
informedveteran said...

Maybe Seigel next will win the "lifetime cutesy tone" award.

I love how Chomsky dismisses him as NPR's "hotshot intellectual".

11/17/10, 8:30 AM
bpfb said...

^ And I'd rather hear it from Noam than from the "Hefty" Sir Blobbert of Rootypoop.

11/17/10, 8:59 AM
informedveteran said...

Very good News Dissector podcast interviewing Chris Hedges. (11/12 – first half hour) It is basically for his new book but he talks a lot about the current state of journalism and the NYT.
I would love to hear someone try to repeat what Hedges says but with an NPR cutesy tone.

11/17/10, 9:06 AM
informedveteran said...

I’ll skip the usual curseworthiness of this Nice Polite Republican radio story and just comment on the lack of CONTEXT. Why does our “liberal” news media always fail to mention the decreased revenue due to the giant recession when yammering about the current budget deficit? Why do they fail to mention the $5,000,000,000,000 that Duh-bya added to the national debt?

Of course, "defense" spending is not mentioned at all, even though it has doubled since 2001.

11/17/10, 2:13 PM
Patrick Lynch said...

Did anyone see the recent article in the Guardian about how the CIA had been bankrolling Abstract Expressionist art and infiltrated all of the art magazines and other media outlets promoting it? It was supposed to be another front in the Cold War. The end effect was to make me wretch listening to art history professors saying how wonderful it was 25-30 years ago.

The Siegel interview instantly reminded me of that article. It also reminded of the time in the 1970's when Congress almost spilled the beans on how much of the mainstream media the CIA had infiltrated and was manipulating. At this point, I think they would be very busy manipulating all kinds of media outlets with National Propaganda Radio being one of the easiest pushovers.

11/17/10, 4:45 PM
gDog said...

Informed,

So here's Senator Grudge, or whatever his name is:

Social Security was always supposed to be basically, in theory, an insurance program where you pay in and then you get out. We're getting to the point where, basically, people in the upper brackets will never, ever, under any circumstances, get back any percent - significant percentage of what they pay in.

Cry my a bloody river.


He showed up yesterday at the Shanel estate auction
Under his heel were a million homeless men
He purchased the winery with dollars of deception
Well you could tell by his blood-stained hands

11/17/10, 5:28 PM
Mytwords said...

I too was disgusted with the crowing I heard on NPR's Tues ATC about Robert Siegel's "intellectual heft" and "profound humanity." I sent a polite but pointed email to Nicholas Lemann - dean of the journalism school and chair of the award's selection committee - and Abi Wright - director of the award - countering (with links) this assessment of Mr. Siegel and asking for a justification of his selection. I also cc'd the email to several professors at Columbia and to FAIR, Media Matters, and TruthDig.
I'll post the email in a day or so and post any responses I get (with permission, of course).

11/17/10, 6:02 PM
JayV said...

@ Mytwords, thanks for your personal comment the other day.
I just need to re-energize. :-)

11/17/10, 7:10 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

Bravo, Mytwords, on the high quality of your efforts, and the energy with which you propel them.

Bravo Chomsky, for telling it like it is.

In a closed shop like NPR News, personalities like Siegel become more conspicuous to prize-giving organizations than more worthy journalists, simply because of the dominant presence that they cultivate.

I call Siegel's act 'pursed-lipped erudition', and he's got the act down: a sort of benevolent professorial demeanor, amplified by a hi-fi voice, the admixture of which is supposed to convey wisdom, depth, and sound insight. On top of this is a sort of mildly bemused curiosity, which adds to his image of 'I'm safe, you can trust me, and my insight on things is pretty sound.'

In all my time of enduring listening to him, I've never encountered any profundity that might indicate that he is anything special as a broadcaster. He obviously disagrees, as his very delivery betrays a puffed-up attitude that speaks of ego more than 'journalistic excellence'.

If people were so impressed with Ronald Reagan as a 'great communicator', why shouldn't similar minds heap praise and prize on R. Siegel? After all, with such a worthless mainstream media, sooner or later they run out of people to honor, so in that respect, Siegel's way overdue to get some kind of self-congratulatory something or other. He's been a crust-bucket for so long at Nerdy-Now-Neocon Publicity Radio, it just had to happen, I suppose.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

11/17/10, 8:43 PM
gDog said...

Remember all that blather about trying Gitmo terrorists in NYC? Looks like NPR didn't even send a reported to witness the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.

Siegheil employs his "puckered erudition" (ht/port) to pass the ball to some obscure "news correspondent," Carrie Johnson, who "has been following this case..." from a safe distance, it seems. Anyway, it's just a god-awful piece of crap reporting. Good thing we've progressed so far since 1968

11/18/10, 1:09 AM
informedveteran said...

Patrick,

Yep, decades of Black Budgets buys a lot of evil mischief. Just imagine what the good guys could do with untold $Billions………

11/18/10, 8:49 AM
informedveteran said...

Yes ‘ol Neocon Propaganda Radio sure seems dissappointed in this Ghailani verdict. “But because of the specter of torture hanging over the Ghailani proceedings, the incriminating statements he made under interrogation were not presented by the prosecution.” I’m glad torture is still a not-quite-tangible apparition to NPR.

11/18/10, 10:22 AM
informedveteran said...

dissappointed

11/18/10, 10:25 AM
informedveteran said...

While I was typing this they changed the title of the story to "Terror Verdict Complicates Issue Of Detainee Trials" from "Terror Verdict Casts Doubt On White House Strategy". I wonder what else they changed -I still have the original page up too!

11/18/10, 10:29 AM
!!bpfb!! said...

I fondly recall some lovely cheeky limericks were writ here, oh so inspired by that Regal Hefty Bag O' Blob.

(runs to escape from the movie house!)

11/18/10, 10:53 AM
Anonymous said...

RE kiriakou:

I just love his comment:

"I wasn't there when the interrogation took place; instead, I relied on what I'd heard and read inside the agency at the time."

Translation: "I merely repeated the gossip"

The funniest part is that Kiriakou obvioulsy does not even appreciate just how stupid that makes him look.

And this guy spent YEARS as an "analyst" for the CIA (!)

With analysis like that, who need Oprah?

11/18/10, 11:22 AM
Anonymous said...

informedveteran points outWhile I was typing this they changed the title of the story to "Terror Verdict Complicates Issue Of Detainee Trials" from "Terror Verdict Casts Doubt On White House Strategy".

The hilarious thing is that the original title is still in the link! (which they CAN'T change because people have already linked to it)

www.npr.org/.../terrorism-verdict-casts-doubt-on-white-house-strategy

What a bunch of goof balls.

NPR: National Picador Radio

11/18/10, 11:44 AM
Anonymous said...

CIA had been bankrolling Abstract Expressionist art and infiltrated all of the art magazines and other media outlets promoting it? It was supposed to be another front in the Cold War."

You just gotta wonder WHO (which government officials) might have benefitted from art investments.

Would be interesting to see the investor history of the big galleries and perhaps auction houses o f the time to see who that might have been.

As they say, "Follow the money".

11/18/10, 12:01 PM
Anonymous said...

"Nelson Rockefeller, whose family created the MoMA [Museum of Modern Art], actually referred to Abstract Expressionism as “free enterprise painting.” But like so many Rockefeller ventures, it was state supported [in this case by CIA], so that his own collection of Abstract Expressionist works ended up being worth a considerable fortune."

Funny how that works, ain't it?

http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/the-cia-abstract-expressionism-as-a-propaganda-tool-of-the-cold-war

11/18/10, 1:19 PM
JayV said...

Beat the Press (Dean Baker) today...


NPR Gives Mara Liasson Segment to Lobby for Cuts in Medicare and Social Security

11/18/10, 2:35 PM
informedveteran said...

In the last line “And if that happens, it may lead to what lawmakers say they want to have about the deficit - an adult conversation.” Liasson makes it clear which “adult” lawmakers she is reporting on.

11/18/10, 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...

'NPR departed from normal journalistic standards this morning when it gave a reporter the opportunity to present her opinions on dealing with deficit as facts to its listerners."

What else is new?

NPR hosts and reporters "depart from normal journalistic standards and present their opinions as facts" on a regular basis.

I doubt they even know what normal standards are.

Very rarely, they get sanctioned (even fired!) for expressing their opinions, but then only when they say something that violates Viv Schiller's sensibilities.

But the idea of Mara Liarsson as "economics expert" (or any kind of expert for that matter) is indeed very funny.

11/18/10, 4:54 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

Next logical step, because she's 'speaking her mind', Liarsson gets axed by Viv, which is OK with Liarsson because Juan brokered a cushy bed for her back at Fox, her true home anyway.

Coming up this season on Fox: 'Juan 'n Mara', a hard hitting of the hardballs, every weekday at 3:30 AM, only on Fox! Personally produced by R. Murdoch.

'In the great tradition of Hannity & Colmes'.

11/18/10, 6:14 PM
gDog said...

Informed,
"...an adult conversation.” Really?! That's hilarious - I guess that was before she'd watched Jon Stewart's spoof, "adult spin", on the "adult conversation;" The kind where the adult says, "NO! Because I said so!" I mean, "adult conversation" was completely unmasked as an idiot talking point that all the Republicans have read the script on...including Mara.

11/18/10, 8:01 PM
JayV said...

Richard Adams (blog) in The Guardian:

Fox News chief Roger Ailes apologises after describing NPR as 'Nazis'

Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, blasts NPR as 'Nazis' and calls Jon Stewart's act 'horseshit' in a bile-filled interview

11/18/10, 8:31 PM
informedveteran said...

JayV

You beat me to it! I was just going to post that. It was just on Countdown.

So here in this reality, NPR reporters repeat GOP talking points, while in another reality, NPR is the left wing of the NAZI party.

I give up.

11/18/10, 8:39 PM
informedveteran said...

Jeez - reading the comments on that Guardian-Ailes-NPR-Nazi story I remember that third reality - even the most liberal democrat here in the US would be considered right leaning in Britain. Very witty (and mostly polite-ish)comments too.

11/18/10, 9:08 PM
Anonymous said...

Somehow I have managed never to have stumbled upon this blog before now. Thank god this resource exists!

I had had my fill of this Steve Inskeep character a long time ago.

But this morning's "Terror verdict casts doubt on White House strategy" story was particularly repellent. Even my wife, who shares my politics but thinks I get too worked up about these things, was astounded by how irresponsible, stupid and unnerving it was.

It was simply excruciating to listen to these assholes condemn a jury and civilian court for providing due process under the law. Not a single moment devoted to so much as entertaining the notion that maybe the verdict was simply correct. Or, for that matter, that the criminals who authorized US forces to commit acts of torture were the ones who fucked something up.

Dear Blogger person, you've had this blog up for a few years now: you're providing a wonderful service, and reporting on a phenomenon that many people like me have unfortunately been quietly enduring. NPR militarist/anti-civil liberties/pro-corporate bent is still WOEFULLY under-discussed. I hope that this is beginning to change. If it is, I'm sure that this blog has had something to do with that.

Cheers!

11/18/10, 10:13 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

Anonymous/Cheers:

If you're new, and if you haven't, I would invite you to stroll through the archives to get an overview of just how extensive has been the much-needed scrutiny of NPR, which to this day maintains a strangle-hold over listeners who think that it's the only 'alternative' game in town.

Cheers to you, too.

11/18/10, 11:36 PM
informedveteran said...

Check out Inskreep in the comments bragging about how many conservatives they have had on! Sort by recommended to find it faster.

11/19/10, 1:54 PM
gDog said...

Informed, Yeah, thanks for the tip. May as well repeat it here, for the record:


NPR STAFF:

Steve Inskeep (Inskeep) wrote:

Thanks to all for a spirited discussion. Steve Parks expressed concern that he never hears “first person conservatives" on NPR. He’s right that this would be a problem if true. Fortunately, you can search this site and find many conservatives interviewed on NPR. Here are a few from recent weeks:

Congressman Mike Pence
Congressman David Dreier
Senator Judd Gregg
Senator Kit Bond
Michael Gerson, columnist and speechwriter to President Bush
Matt Kibbe, CEO of FreedomWorks
Paul Clement, Solicitor General under President Bush
Matthew Slaughter, economic advisor to President Bush

This list only includes interviews in which I was involved. My colleagues have brought you many more conservatives—from new Tea Party Congressmen to Alan Simpson; from GOP governors to South Carolina legislators preparing to work with Nikki Haley. We’ve also heard from many liberals, starting with Nancy Pelosi.

Also, Curt Kovacs of Arizona asks: “Do you hear any black reporters on NPR?" Yes – and they include many prominent reporters and hosts, such as Michele Norris, Sonari Glinton, Cheryl Corley, Audie Cornish, Michel Martin, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, and Gwen Thompkins.

Is this what FAIR refers to as "the illusion of balance?" http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1086

11/19/10, 2:14 PM
bpfb said...

Thanks for the handy compilation, 'Kreepster. Next time some righty-tighty mouth-breather repeats the tired, crippled meme about S40-Radio and their lib-bias.

Other than that, begone.

11/19/10, 3:19 PM

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